Old social media post leads to phone calls for prison

A Facebook post containing a story from more than three years ago sparked concerns and lots of phone calls to the James V. Allred Unit on Farm-to-Market 369.

A story from a local media outlet about the Texas Department of Criminal Justice prison being on lockdown after a prison guard was stabbed 15 times and another once in the abdomen resurfaced on the many people's feeds who are on the social media platform.

But, a TDCJ spokesperson said Wednesday that while the prison is on lockdown for its semi-annual comprehensive search, it has nothing to do with an attack on guards.

"From time to time, old stories will resurface on social media," Jason Clark said. "Unfortunately, some will share those posts without fully reading the content and this is another example of that."

James V. Allred Unit(Photo: TRN)

The date on the story is April 2, 2014.

In a Times Record News article published April 3, 2014, Clark told the newspaper that a sergeant at the prison was standing in a doorway monitoring inmate movement at about 4 p.m. when “multiple assailants” attacked him and another correctional officer. The sergeant was stabbed in his back, front torso and head. He was taken by ambulance to the United Regional Health Care System for treatment.

The other officer was stabbed once in his abdomen and was treated on the unit, Clark said.

“Unfortunately, it’s often a very stressful job to supervise inmates,” Clark said. “It’s not a frequent occurrence. It is very fortunate they didn’t sustain any life-threatening injuries.”

Officials at the prison said Thursday morning that they had received several phone calls in relation to the social media post, including some calls from other prisons.